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were families and tribes only, making their homes in the wild praries, not city folk, of five millions together, where one may walk for miles without seeing a blade of grass.
"It is these enormous aggregations of humanity which invest the question of the disposal of the dead with an importance which it would not otherwise possess.
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Even in this little, but rapidly increasing, oity of Hongkong, it is high time that we devoted ourselves to the consideration of this subject.
We have a population of 260,000 souls. Of these some 2 per cent, or less die every year, or Bay about 5,000. Those who understand such matters, tell us that it takes about half a century for a corpse, buried under the usual conditions, to be entirely resolved into its original elements. 5,000 by 50-250,000; and this number, accor- ding to the calculation just mentioned, we may consider as now rapidly accumulating as our population increases. A quarter of a million of corpses, in all stages of decay. These all lie quiet, but they are by no means inert. The British, as well as the Chinese iden appears to be to preserve these treasures, and, as in the case of some other gatherings. we may discover that true wisdom lies in distribu- tion rather than accumulation.
"Li Hung Chang's coffin, which he carried with him to Europe, and back, cost, it is said, $50,000, and in England, although we hardly go to this excess, we also choose a tree that will not roi' to encase our friends, and endea
your, by means of seasoned oak, leadeu shells brick, stone, and cement to postpone-we cannot defeat-nature's beneficent processes.
The advocates of cremation strongly re- commend a very different course, viz., that by excessive heat, we at once resolve the body into 5,000 cubic feet of gas and 5lbs. of ashes. That we etherialise our friends instead of burying them. That thereby we should pre- vent, in great measure, propagation of disease and suffering. Besides this, many thousands of acres of valuable laud now appropriated to cemeteries would be saved, one acre alone suffic- ing to preserve the cremated remains of our Hongkong dead for a period of 200 years.
a8
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
"I have just sent £10 10s. to the Cremation Society of England with the request that, should my death occur in England, they will be good enough to create my body at the Necropolis," Woking. Will you permit me to say that I regard this mat er one of the most vital interest. Colonel Elsdale, Commanding the Royal Engineers, told us lately that the English lack imagination. Whether that be so or not, we are still super stitious to a degree and withal impatient of instruction. In respect to the treatment of the dead we are behind the civilization of India and Japan, whilst every European nation is in advance of us.
"I have respectfully ventured to charge the English people with being impatient of in- struction. Is not this the experience of most travellers on returning to our beloved native land? We are reminded by the supreme event, which we this week celebrate, that it is possible for individuals and peoples to be blinded to the perception of the truth, which God only reveals to those of teachable disposition, whilst it is hidden from the eyes of others. There must be some cause for the terrible scourge from which we have suffered in Hongkong in the past, which is now driving the inhabitants from Bombay, and causing deep anxiety in Calcutta. In the presence of such calamities it becomes us to turn aside occasionally from our rupes and dollar seeking, and, bowing our knees in reverential awe, to inquire--are there truths to which we are still oblivious? Are there any warnings to which we are indifferent? Are there leadings which we fail to appreciate? Are there scientific elders whom we refuse to hear? Let us humble ourselves, that we may be instructed. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers', and thine ears shall hear a voice be- hind thee, saying this is the
way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye
turn to the left.'
Mr. Sharp then went on to quote what Sir Henry Thompson, the members of the Council
of the Cremation Society of England, and others have to say upon the subject.
A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Sharp for his interesting lecture, on the motion of Mr. POLLOCK, who remarked that Mr. Sharp had brought home to them very clearly the evils which resulted, and which must inevitably result, from the burial of the dead. He believed it was a fact that in Shanghai at the present moment there was a crematorium in existence which was modelled upon the lines of the crematorium established in England in the city of Manchester, and he thought that perhaps, looking at the smallness of the area of the Island of Hongkong, the time had now arrived when many of them might use. fully consider the question whether it was not advisable that they should also have a public mortuary in this colony established to the end that those who desired that their relatives should be cremated instead of buried at death might be able to adopt that form of disposing of the dead.
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE SANITARY BOARD.
MORE CASES OF RINDERPEST AT CAUSEWAY BAY
Hongkong Sanitary Board was held to consider On 27th March a special meeting of the a further outbreak of rinderpest at Causeway Bay.
The President (Dr. J. M. Atkinson, Principal Civil Medical Officer) occupied the chair. and there were also present the Vice- President (the Hon. F H. May, Captain Super- intendent of Police), the Hon. R. D. Ormsby (Director of Public Works), Mr. A. W. Brewin (Acting Registrar-General), Mr. E. Osborne. Dr. Clark (Medical Officer of Health), and Mr. C. W. Duggan iSecretary). Mr C. V. Ladds (Colonial Veterinary Surgeon) also attended.
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The SECRETARY read a report from Mr. Ladds stating that, another outbreak of rinder- pest bad taken place at Ciuseway Bay in a new shed immediately behind the stables de. clared infected. There were 10 cows and one calf in the shed, and of these five cows showed distinct signs of infection. He recommended the immediato slaughter and burial of the whole 11 animals,
doubt as to the legality of the meating held the The PRESIDENT said that as there was some
previous day, he ordered the Colonial Veterin ary Surgeon to slaughter the diseased animals and issued uotices for the meeting that day.
the VICE-PRESIDENT, the shed in question was On the motion of Dr CLARK, seconded by declared an infected area.
On the motion of Dr. CLARK, seconded by the Hon. R. D. ORMSBY, the action of the President in ordering the slaughter of the dis- eased cattle was coufirmed.
The VICE-PRESIDENT-I beg to move that the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon be asked to furnish a report in writing as to what steps be meeting held on the 8th March, when I moved took on the resolution of the Board at the
that
of the cattle and attendants be made by the proper arrangements for the isolation
of the police. It does not appear to me that Colonial Veterinary Surgeon with the assistance
any arrangements were made at all, or very inadequate ones.
I
Mr. LADDS-I can answer that question now. gave the police specific instructions through the luspector what to do, and I cannot make him carry out the duties if he does not carry them out.
The VICE-PRESIDENT-I should like a little writing aud on record. more detailed information. I should like it in
The PRESIDENT seconded, and the motion was carried.
The N. C. Daily News says the dredger St. Enoch is doing excellent work at Weibaiwei, lifting over 100 tons per hour.
shareholders of the Yokohama Specie Bank a At the general half-yearly meeting of the dividend at the rate of 15 per cent. per annum was declared.
H.M.S. Woodcock was at Hankow on the 18th Tangting lake and will not attempt to go up to instant. We believe she is going to survey the Chungking this year.-China Gazette
REVIEW.
[April 1, 1899.
From Peking to Petersburg. By ARNOT REID,
London: Edward Arnold. 1899. THE provocative cause of his journey, Mr. Reid tells us, was a very matter of faot one. He had already travelled from Singapore to London by way of Japan and America and by way of the Suez Canal, and desiring to travel home. wards again he wished to do so by a different route. That was the initial reason, but also, as one deeply interested in the political outlook in Asia, he wished to traverse the old routes of overland trade and to judge of the uses and possibilities of the new Trans-Siberian Railway. Mr. Reid's example may possibly be followed by others who are in like case and to such the record of bis experiences will` prove e8- pecially welcome. The book will appeal. how. ever, to a much wider.circle than that made up of voyagers to or from the Far East, for it is a well told tale of travel such as will be appreciated by the large class who like to view the world from their own armchair, and it deals, moreover, in a lively and original strain, with the great political question now agitating the whole civilised world, namely, the future of Chioa.
Mr. Reid struck across the so-called desert of Gobi to meet the Siberian railway at Irkutsk, permits no doubt the way will be smoothed for and since he was able to obtain the necessary others, who will owe some obligation to him for having established a precedent. Of this part of his journey Mr Reid says, The memory of any journey in the Desert of Gobi must ever remain as one of my most pleasant experiences of travel." It would appear to be necessary to select the time for the journey with some oare, however, namely, after the rainy season is over and before the dusty weather begins. But as not many will care for travelling on horseback or by cart for eighteen days tue number who will follow Mr. Eid in this part of his journey will necessarily be limited; of those who elect to travel homewards by the Biberían route the majority will no doubt prefer to bridge the gap between the eastern and western sections of the railway by following the Russian post roads. In two or three years there will be railway communication all the way and then no doubt the Siberian ronte will be a strong com. petitor with the Suez and Pacific routes.
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ex-
Mr. Reid's book consists in part of artioles written for a syndicate of newspapers, of which the Daily Press was a member, but the account of the journey has been tended somewhat, and chapters have been added on "The People of China," Railways in China
Missionary Work in China," "Of Concession-huuting. Russia's Strength," The Pressure on China," "What should Britain do ?" etc. Of the Chinese people our author has a high opinion, and he thinks the Chinaman would make a good though not the finest type of soldier. "I believe," he says, "that if Britain would take the opportunity to handle China as we have handled Egypt we could raise in twenty years an army that would half-a-century a native administration that hold the world at bay, and we could build up in
would be the best that Asia has ever seen."
Mr. Reid has his own ideas as to how the political difficulty in China should be solved. He would propose to America to make a treaty, to make it openly before the whole world, a treaty of which the substance would be that Great Britain and America would guarantee the integrity of China within absolute precise geographical limits, and would defend their own. Necessarily, they would concurrently as- sume the right to control the Government of China, and they would necessarily accept the responsibility of full international responsibility for the acts of that Government. In other words, my proposal would be that the whole of China, except such portions of it as might be given as a sop to other states, should become an Anglo-American Protected State."
If the negotiations with America failed Mr. posal that he would make to her he describes as Reid would approach Russis, and the pro-
follows:-
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Haring failed with America, I would pose a deal with Russia. I would not seek to pro-
and I would honestly admit that the proposal I hide the fact that I had failed with America, had to make to Russia was not so suitable, from
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